The headmaster's office
by Sapphire1112
Summary: One t during 'Commodity' Time to apologise, everyone! I do not own the characters or the episode 'Commodity'.


Jack walked into the Lyell Centre. Clarissa and Nikki were walking through the corridor, deep in conversation. Clarissa caught sight of him as he came through the door. "Jack, you look _hideous_!"

"Thanks, babes." Jack greeted her as she and Nikki arrived next to him.

The former thrust a piece of paper into his hand. "Here"

Jack stared at it as though he'd never seen such a thing before. "What's this?"

"Your apology"

"My _what_?"

"You're going to apologise." She told him, patiently.

Jack pouted. "Um, I didn't _do_ anything."

"Jack, do I care? Do _any_ of us care?" Clarissa retorted.

"I'm apologising to _Chamberlain_ as well?" Jack stared at her in disbelief.

"Start with him. He's had to mop up your spill!" Clarissa pointed out

He winced. "Painful."

"Can't be as painful as getting your arse kicked!" She chuckled. Nikki smirked.

"I _won_!" Jack protested.

Clarissa persisted. "Take a little pain here and you'll win _this_ fight as well."

"Mm, you're so wise!" He grumbled. He turned to Nikki as they went into the lab. ""Thanks for your support, _sweetie_!" He hissed sarcastically.

She smirked at him. "Well, _sweetie_ , I thought you were doing so beautifully on your own!"

 ***Half an hour later...***

Nikki just couldn't find it. "Jack?" _Where the hell was it?_

"Jack's busy!" came his response.

Nikki ignored it. "Have you been at my desk?" Jack sighed. Clearly she was ignoring him. He had betterr go and see what she wanted. " _JACK_!" Nikki yelled just as he arrived at the entrance to their office. She was frantically searching her desk.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I was working on a spreadsheet of the common factors in the Freedman/Rashid/Liron murders and now I can't find it."

"Did you file it?"

"No, it was on my desk."

"Safer if it's filed." Jack commented, helpfully - and received an icy glare from Nikki for his troubles.

 _Ooh, if looks could kill!_

Jack moved across the room. He had better help her look for the spreadsheet. By pure chance, it was in the first place he looked. The photocopier. "This what you're after?"

She turned to look at him. "Yes. Who put it there?"

"Presumably the person who copied it..." Another Icy glare.

 _Oops. She was giving them out in spades today!_

"That wasn't you?"

A sudden look of annoyance appeared on Nikki's face. "Why didn't he just _ask_ me for it?"

"Who?"

"Chamberlain. He's looking over my shoulder - _why_? I won't have him checking on me or skewing conclusions."

The man in question chose that exact moment to walk past their office with a cheery "Morning".

 _Talk of the devil. How unfortunate._

Jack saw the look on Nikki's face and spotted the imminent danger. "I don't think he'd do that. I'd take a deep breath, Nikki, just to be sure I wasn't over reacting."

 _Since when, Jack?_

"No, you wouldn't!" She scoffed, breezing past him and purposefully strolling towards Chamberlain's office..She was a woman on a mission.

Jack shook his head at her departing back. 'Take a deep breath'? - him? "No." She was right. He would have done exactly what she was doing right now.

 _Watch out Chamberlain! Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned - especially when that woman was_ _Nikki!_

 ***About half an hour later...***

Nikki walked into Chamberlain's office as he put the phone down. "Leighton and Burchett are on their way." He commented.

Nikki took a deep breath - the one she probably should have taken before she had accused hi earlier. "I'm sorry, i shouldn't have accused you of doing anything."

"Well, you _didn't_ accuse me, did you?" Thomas pointed out.

Nikki gave a small smile. "I'm still sorry. I mean I _thought_ that it..."

He waved his hands at her. "Accepted. If I had to apologise for all the things I think, I'd never stop."

Clarissa entered the office, calling over her shoulder, to the other 'disgraced child' in the Lyell team. "Jack!"

"What were they after?" Thomas asked Nikki.

"Information" She answered.

"Why?"

Before she could answer, Jack arrived in the office, paper in hand. He cleared his throat nervously and began: "I'm a passionate person..."

Thomas stared at him in astonishment at this sudden announcement. Jack swallowed and continued. "Sometimes people can mistake my passion for anger. I regret that. I'm not angry. Please accept my apology, if I have upset you with my quest for the truth."

The office was silent. Nikki was perched on the edge of the sofa. She couldn't help but feel proud of Jack for swallowing his pride and apologising - even though he hadn't _done_ anything.

 _He was a good man._

The office phone started ringing and as Thomas went to answer it, Clarissa smirked and retorted, " 'If _I have upset you with my quest for the truth._ '?! What moron wrote that?" Nikki suppressed a giggle at Jack's expression of mock annoyance at Clarissa's teasing.

 _They were a right pair sometimes!_

Thomas put the phone down. "Well, apology accepted. Everyone done apologising?"

"Mm-hm" Jack muttered.

"Alright. What happened? Thomas asked.

"To his _face_?!" Clarissa interjected. Nikki suppressed another giggle.

"With Leighton?" Thomas continued, patiently.

"He accused us of not stepping up for him, so that he would have the evidence to charge Dreyfus." Nikki explained.

"Is he right?"

Nikki shook her head. " _We stepped up_. There is no physical evidence that ties Dreyfus to the crimes. He doesn't want to hear that."

Thomas nodded. "I understand. Sometimes career prospects overpower judgement." Thomas turned to look at Jack. " So, is that what happened to your face? You hit him. He hit you back?"

 _What happened to his face is that he goes cage-fighting like an idiot._

Jack shook his head with fervour. "No, no. Nobody hit anybody."

Thomas raised his eyebrows. "Maybe you should have."

 _Maybe this man wasn't so bad after all!_

"Do you have a plan?" he asked.

Jack nodded. "Yes, I do. The DVD came in a plastic case. Wasn't wiped clean. Fingerprints _all over it_. Dreyfus says it was sent to his club." He turned to Clarissa. "What's the name of the fella who runs security up there?"

"Ron McNally. David Preston, the chief exec."

Jack turned back to Thomas and continued. "McNally brought it to Mousa Rashid. _They deny it_. If I find their prints on it..."

"What? What will that prove?" Thomas interjected.

"The club is _lying_..." Nikki explained as Jack nodded triumphantly at her. "and Dreyfus is being _set_ _up_."

Thomas nodded. "You have prints, but nothing to match them to?"

This was Clarissa's department. "McNally is _retired_ _police_. His DNA and fingerprints will be on the Database."

 ***A few minutes later...***

"Keep it simple, Jack. Just say you're sorry." Thomas said, showing Leighton and Burchett into the office, with Nikki bringing up the rear. "Right, let's get started, shall we?" Thomas commented as they all sat down. "Jack?"

Poor Jack looked _so_ uncomfortable - almost like a little boy sent to the headmaster's office in disgrace. "Detective Leighton, I'm sorry..."

"Thank you for doing that, Jack." Thomas interrupted, before he could continue and Jack was relieved that he didn't have to say anything else "Well, I hope that's cleared the air, at least a bit."

Leighton looked decidedly unimpressed. "a bit." he muttered.

"Good." Thomas replied. "Well, let's clear the rest of it, shall we? _You_ owe _us_ an apology for suggesting we haven't stepped up."

The heat moved away from Jack and onto Leighton. He laughed, awkwardly - clearly expecting it to be a joke. But Thomas was firm. "Yes, I know - awkward, isn't it! _Let's get it done_."

And with that, Thomas became part of the Lyell Centre. He had earned their respect and Nikki, in particular admired him for standing up for Jack. Thomas was one of them.

Leighton looked even more uncomfortable now. He knew he wasn't going to get out of this, so he muttered "I'm sorry"

Ever the diplomat, Thomas swiftly moved things along. "Good. Moving forward. _Ruth_ came back. We don't know how she got in. We believe she's duplicated documents pertaining to the deaths of Rachel and Nathan Freedman. Clarissa is preparing the CCTV footage for you."

Clarissa nodded enthusiastically, clearly impressed now. " _Yes, I am_."

"We have had some results back. The plastic case the DVD came in is _covered_ in Ron McNally's fingerprints." Nikki and Jack shared a look as Thomas finished, "Hard to explain - if the club knew _nothing_ _about_ _it_."

 _Nice one, Thomas! Welcome aboard the Lyell._


End file.
